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Jan 6, 2012

Friday SHINE stuff..

Let me just start by saying that I am blown away by the Lord this week. I don't even think I can begin to express and convey to you with the right words that are on my heart.

I have been praying all morning for the Lord to help me express myself to all of you in such a way that will make sense and that will Glorify Him the most.

So, here goes.

Make no mistake in knowing and believing that you all were hand picked to be in this SHINE group. The Lord gathered you in His arms and dropped you right smack in the middle of this group....for His purposes.

What started out with 15 of us...now has grown to 84 in a matter of days.

This tells me that there is a hunger, a deep craving for God's word in our lives.

We are starving and need to be fed, daily.

Who likes to eat alone? I know I don't. So, here we are....feasting on His word and being amazed at what He is teaching us.

My eyes are flooded with tears as I picture each of your faces...looking down, intently reading your Bibles.

I cannot even begin to tell you how that makes my heart BURST with JOY!

2011 was a very tough year for so many of us. We all have stories to share regarding heartache, sadness, loss.

However, I believe that God is showing us that 2011 was a year of preparation. He has been preparing us for what is to come.

He has been drawing us to Him for a reason. What else draws us closer to Him than when we are desperate for Him.

I truly believe that the Lord is calling His people--you and me--to shake this world like never before.

He is putting a fire in our hearts that can only be fanned with His living Word.

Girls! He wants us to SHINE like never before! He wants our lives to truly reflect Himself. Not just by our words or our knowledge of Him, but by our actions and by His presence within us.

I am telling you, I truly believe this year, 2012, is a year of restoration. A year of renewal, a year of complete surrender to Him.

Embrace this calling, friends. He wants you and He is pursuing you.

How beautiful is that? Who doesn't like to be pursued?

I have shared this with only a few girls..but I want to share with all of you as well.

God has been laying the scriptures found in Mark 6:30-46 on my heart...for a while now. Over the Summer, He kept leading me to the passages of Jesus feeding the 5000 with only five loaves of bread and two fish.

What in the world does this mean, I kept asking. Why is He showing me this over and over and over?

2 weeks ago, He showed it to me again and I noticed something in this reading that I had not noticed before.

"when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place", they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

"Jesus answered.."You give them something to eat."

The story goes on, as you know, and the 5000 people are fed with the 5 loaves and 2 fish. With leftover food.

I believe that WE are the large crowd that Jesus sees and has compassion on. He knows we need a shepherd. He is calling us, girls.

He knows we have those surrounding us that desperately need Him. "You give them something to eat", He says.

Are you getting this? We are His sheep, He is the shepherd...we must follow Him and feed others along the way with the power that He pours into our lives through this renewed relationship we have with Him.

Girls! When you truly SHINE from the Light of His Glory, you are feeding the lost sheep. You are answering His call to Him.

The second verse He laid on my heart on that very same day was this: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38

WE are His workers, girls!

Yes, you were chosen, sweet friend. Chosen to shake this world and to let God's glory be reflected in your life. Not just in your life, but on your beautiful faces.

Shine girls, shine!

following our Shepherd,

Jill

**We have no weekend reading, so it's a good time to catch up if you're behind. I will send an email Sunday with the week's reading...and I will also post on our blog. Please continue posting prayer requests, praises on our blog. I will create a place on the blog... www.shinegirlsshine.blogspot.com at the beginning of each week for you to be able to post/comment your requests. Please make sure to check it regularly so that we can be lifting each other up to the Father, daily. Also, we all love hearing your stories. Please continue sharing with the group. They encourage us so much. Thank you for your transparency, girls. You bless me daily!

About SHINE

SHINE girls want to spread the gospel of JESUS CHRIST by SHINE-ing bright for all of the world to see! When we read His Word daily and hold each other accountable, we are walking closer and closer to His Light. Come SHINE with us!